On the ceiling above are huge masses of stalactites, at times so thick as to form curtains of stone, varying from reddish brown to a light grey, intriguing in their staggered form and defying description by even the most talented poet or writer. On beyond the pool the visitor marvels at the Veiled Statue, a pillar of dripstone which resembles a frozen waterfall and which began its existence about 100,000 years ago.
© BY ROBERT NYMEYER
Many visitors have said at this point they have had their money's worth. This one room alone was worth their whole trip. Actually, they aren't yet quite half way, and there is more to come.
Continuing on past the Frozen Waterfall and the Bashful Elephant, both named for the effect they give, the traveler enters the King's Palace which, to some, is the most ornate of the many chambers the entire Park has to offer. Thousands of stalactites hang from the ceiling, at times resembling stringy mosses hanging from the limbs of trees. Some, appearing to hang at a slight angle, give the impression the "stone moss" might be swaying in the wind. Underneath there is a noticeable scarcity of corresponding stalagmites, and geologists think the floor at this point was at one time covered with water, which would prohibit the formation of the "floor icicles."
The eye roams over ever-changing forms with no two quite alike, and the immensity of the room alone is sufficient to remind man what a small mortal he be, after all. At the far end of the Palace are seen two pendants, stalactite and a stalagmite which come within a fraction of an inch of kissing. Now dead, they will never touch; hence the name, the Frustrated Lovers. And, as though they might have been the King and the Queen, they are found at the small passageway that connects the King's Palace with the Queen's Chamber, another room of similar shapes and decoration which do indeed remind the visitor of the ornate finery to be expected in Her Majesty's domicile. The countless rows of stalactites look like driplets of finely woven lace, stretching over much of the ceiling not unlike the frills of a canopy one might expect to find adorning the Queen's bed in her castle.
One unique and different formation is known as the Queen's Draperies, which are found at the southwest side of the room. They are a form of massed stalactites grown together so evenly that they resemble a huge drape from which the wrinkles haven't been ironed out. But the unusual feature is the ability of this stone to absorb light and reflect it moments after the light has been extinguished. These portieres are the highest in the Caverns, being slightly over 40 feet. Throughout the rest of the room one feels as though he must have interrupted Mother Nature while she was busily experimenting and trying to decide what to do next, having left behind her first efforts for the world to see.
© BY ROBERT NYMEYER
The paved trail continues through a low, rocky passageway at the far end of the Queen's Chamber and presently the party finds itself in the Papoose Room and in one of the lowest spots in the Caverns, approximately 875 feet below the surface. Here the stalactites have grown together in such a way as to resemble huge curtains of stone which appear much like a sheet of lava which has slipped through a crevice and then hardened.